We watched Guerrilla Midwife yesterday in my public health class. While watching it I had mixed feelings about it’s message. 

I agree that the ‘modern’ birthing process has become a bit of a mechanical process these days. I’ve mentioned before how I’ve never liked the idea that parents can now essentially choose the birth date of their child by scheduling a C-section / inducing labor. Of course, there are several circumstances where this is necessary, such as when my mom gave birth to my brother Thomas; she was losing amniotic fluid and no one could figure out why as her water hadn’t broke, and her doctor was going out of town, so they induced labor. But for those who do it ‘recreationally’, it just seems a bit wrong. But of course, to each their own, and that is my opinion. They did a lot of explaining in that by inducing labor, there is a gross imbalance of hormones happening during birth, and this can sometimes impact the baby and the mother. I’d like to see more studies done where they can prove this link, however. 

They also mentioned that they wouldn’t be surprised if babies were delivered at earlier times, like 37 weeks, which I think is just not ever going to happen. Doctors know that gestation dates are an estimation as it is — unless the mother has a supernatural sense of knowing exactly when she had the sex that brought about conception of her child, there’s no exact way of knowing when the baby should really be due. And along with that, the child’s organs develop at different times, which is why premature babies have such hard times when they are born. The last stage of lung development happens during the alveolar stage, when the baby is 36+ weeks along, in which the important alveoli are formed. Doctors would never take the chance of delivering a baby that could possibly end up in an ICU unless in an emergency situation. 

Anyway, they also linked babies being born at home versus a modern hospital to healthier children. They claim that it’s because they’re in a calmer environment, that they take their time and do not rush the process, and there is more interaction happening with the mother and her family as well as her baby. I guess I can see this being so, however I’m just unsure as to if this is really all that safe. Especially from a respiratory therapy perspective, if the baby comes out and is not breathing, or if it has the cord around it’s neck, or has meconium in it’s lungs, there’s essentially no one there  to assist in helping the baby — even if you immediately go to the hospital, time is lost.

Lastly, and the most weak argument they made in the movie, was that babies born in calmer environments with a midwife have calmer more ‘peaceful’ dispositions. I have to severely disagree with this one, as I just don’t see how the birthing process would have any kind of impact on the child’s development of their personality. That happens after they are outside the womb. Even then, I don’t know anybody who can remember their birth, much less much of their childhood until they were past toddler age. 

So yeah, it was a very moving movie, and it did bring some things into perspective, but the peace message that they started with was just so out there that it made it hard to take it seriously. However, if they do further research, I believe that the science will back up some of the claims they’ve made, and perhaps we’ll see more home-births later on in our generation.